• Home
• Nicotine Gum
• Nicotine Patches
• Quit Smoking with Hypnosis
• Links
• About Us

How NOT to Gain Weight after Kicking the Smoking Habit

February 7th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Are you currently in the process of kicking the smoking habit, but are dreading the idea of gaining a few extra pounds? It is estimated that most smokers will gain five to fifteen pounds after successfully kicking the habit. Why the weight gain, you wonder? There are several reasons most ex-smokers end up a bit heavier after their battle to kick the habit. First, nicotine is a natural appetite suppressant that boosts your metabolism. Second, many heavy smokers can burn up to 200 hundred calories a day. Finally, many people tend to overeat or reward themselves with indulgent foods while kicking the habit, either as a reward or as a substitute. It’s no surprise, then, that so many people gain weight after kicking the smoking habit.

A small gain in weight is a small price to pay for the numerous health benefits that come with quitting smoking. Just remember: you can always lose those few extra pounds. In fact, losing a few pounds may seem like a cinch after the hard work of successfully kicking your smoking habit. But if you are just setting out on kicking the smoking habit, here are eight tips on how not to gain wait as you work on becoming healthy and smoke-free.

1) Stock your fridge and pantry with healthy eats. Rather than taking a negative approach, you should see your decision to kick the habit as a positive change in your life to become more healthy and vibrant. To this end, you should do your best to get rid of the junk food and stock up on healthy foods. Many smokers use food as a reward for not smoking, or as a substitute for smoking. Rewarding yourself is perfectly OK, but you should try to avoid food as a reward. However, surrounding yourself with healthy foods will help you avoid gaining weight, in case you should end up relying on food as you strive to stop smoking.

2) Go for a walk or job whenever a craving strikes. It is recommended that individuals who wish to stop smoking get some form of daily exercise. Exercise helps counter the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal that smokers experience upon quitting. Endorphinsthose famous pleasure chemicalsare released each time you become engaged in an exercise activity. Some form of daily exercise will not only help you feel better and keep you distracted from smoking, but it will also ensure that you don’t experience any significant weight gain.

3) If you don’t have time to incorporate a daily exercise regime into your schedule, try to find hobbies that keep you outside and off the couch. Maybe you can rediscover the freedom and fun of riding a bicycle. Perhaps you enjoy gardening, or note that the yard needs a little work done. For fun, take a dance class, or purchase a videotape you can practice with at home.

4) Avoid drinking alcohol. Not only is alcohol loaded with calories, but also for many people it is often associated with smoking. Drinking alcohol can be difficult without getting the urge to reach for your cigarette case.

5) Practice deep breathing and other relaxation techniques. Whenever you feel the urge to smoke, find a quiet, dark place and sit down for a few moments of deep breathing and visualization. Instead of reaching for the chocolate, chips, or cookies, strive to spend a few moments alone practicing your deep breathing. This will help you overcome the urge to smoke and eat.

6) Treat yourself to non-food reward items. Some individuals treat themselves with decadent dark chocolate, slice of cake, or other rich food items. Give yourself some kind of reward for each day or week that you go without smoking, but strive to reward your self with mostly non-food items. Instead of food, give yourself a long, luxurious bubble bath, a new clothing item, or just the gift of a quiet, stress-free evening watching your favorite TV show or movie.

7) Use smoking cessation products such as nicotine gum or the nicotine patch. These products can not only help you conquer your smoking habit, they can also keep you from overeating. Whenever you feel the urge to substitute your cigarette with a piece of food, pop a piece of nicotine gum instead.For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert

Old before your time� How Smoking Damages your Skin

December 5th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

There are several reasons to quit smoking, most importantly for your health. But, if the damage you are doing to the inside or your body isnt enough of a deterrent, perhaps you should consider what you are doing to the outside. In addition to the bad breath, yellow teeth, and yellow fingers, smoking is slowly but surely destroying your skin and making your skin age much faster than nonsmokers.

The Effects of Smoking on the Appearance of Skin

Smoking causes the skin to wrinkle, appear gaunt, and develop an odd colored complexion. Basically, the skin is much weaker and, therefore, less resilient. When this is seen in the face, it is often referred to as smokers face. In fact, smokers in their 40s and 50s often have wrinkles in their faces equivalent to those found in nonsmokers 20 years older.

These effects are sometimes reversible if the smoker quits early enough, but decades of smoking will mean its too late to reverse the effects. The effects do not, however, always reverse themselves. In fact, some studies have shown 40 and 50 year olds who only smoked in their teenage years and while in their 20s had excessive wrinkling for their age. Many of them regained the pink hue to their skin, but never lost the wrinkles.

How Smoking Causes Wrinkles

There are many ways smoking causes wrinkles. One study found that smoking actually switches on a gene that destroys collagen, which is the protein that provides skin with its elasticity. Without elasticity, skin is unable to bounce back to its original shape when it is stretched, ultimately leading to wrinkles.

Smoking has also been found the lack of oxygen to cause damage to skin cells and to disturb the flow of blood to the skin. In fact, just smoking for 10 minutes decreases the oxygen supply to the skin for almost an hour. The nicotine within the cigarette narrows blood vessels and prevents the blood from properly circulating to the capillaries, which are tiny blood vessels, as well as to the upper layers of the skin. The capillaries are responsible for nourishing the skin. When they are not capable of properly performing their job, more wrinkles, as well as deeper wrinkles result.

Smoking and Skin Color

People who smoke also lose the healthy glow found on the skin of those who dont smoke. They lose the pink color to their cheeks and, instead, take on a grayish hue. Nutritional depletion combined with lack of oxygen flow may attribute to this phenomenon.

Smoking and Skin Healing

Because smoking restricts the flow of blood and oxygen to the skin, it also interferes with the healing process. Wounds to the skin take longer to heal and often produce more scarring. In addition, patients who smoke who are recovering from surgery often take longer to heal.

Smoking and Thinning Skin

There is also increasing evidence that smoking causes the skin to thin excessively. In fact, researchers at St. Thomas Hospital in London performed an interesting study in which they compared 25 sets of identical twins. In each of these sets, one twin was a smoker and the other was not. With one particular set of twins in their 50s, an ultrasound revealed that the smoking twins skin was 40% thinner than the other twins skin. In addition, she had much deeper wrinkles and fewer pores. In the remaining 24 sets of twins, similar results were found, though none had quite as significant of a difference.

Skin Cancer

Of course, skin cancer is also attributed to smoking. In fact, research has shown that smokers are three times as likely to develop a specific type of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, than those who dont smoke. In addition, current smokers are more likely to develop the cancer than former smokers. Skin cancer which leaves unattractive marks and results in ugly scarring is found to be responsible for 9,800 deaths in the United States every year, with 2,000 of those being from squamous cell carcinoma.

Reversing the Effects

Unfortunately for smokers, the only way to reverse the aging effects smoking has on skin is to stop smoking the earlier the better. No anti-aging creams or other medications will help. Eating a health diet wont even alter the effects smoking has on the skin. Sadly, quitting may not even be enough, particularly after the damage has already occurred. For those who started smoking when they were teenagers in order to look more mature, they will certainly get their wish when they are 40 years old and look 60!For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert

Quit Smoking and Raise your Life Expectancy

October 2nd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Smoking is not only continuously bad for your health, but also lowers your life expectancy. Every time you smoke a cigarette, it changes the way that your body functions. This includes the cardiovascular system, lungs, and other important parts of your body that help you to remain healthy. The outcome of smoking can become fatal because of the chemicals you are putting in your system. By deciding to quit smoking, you will raise your life expectancy from the diseases that the toxins from cigarettes cause.

One of the problems that smoking causes is cancer. It is known that smoking is responsible for 30% of the deaths that are related to cancer in the United States. These cancers include lung, larynx, oral cavity, esophagus, kidney, pancreatic, cervical and bladder cancers. The reason why smoking causes so much cancer is because of the chemicals that are found in smoking. There are over sixty kinds of substances in cigarettes that relate directly to cancer causing problems. Carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, and lead are some of the main ingredients found in cigarettes that add to the problems with the development of cancer in someone who smokes.

Another one of the major problems that are caused through smoking which become fatal is heart disease. Some of the different types of heart disease include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure. This occurs because the toxins from cigarettes move through your body, eventually breaking off normal functioning parts of your system. For example, in your arteries, plaques will begin to form from the chemicals taking over your system. These same toxins begin to move from your blood stream which narrows the blood vessels. These blood vessels are the ones that supply blood and oxygen to your heart. If they become to narrow, it causes the supply to cut off completely, which can be fatal. These different kinds of heart diseases are the number one cause of death in the United States, and are often attributed with smoking.

Lung disease is another one of the common problems that can lower your life expectancy that is often attributed to smoking. Two of the largest types of lung diseases caused by smoking are emphysema and bronchitis. Emphysema is caused by the air sacs in the lungs to become damaged. These air sacs are responsible for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The chemicals that are in cigarettes move into the lungs, damaging the walls of the alveoli. This then causes the sacs to become larger and less effective in exchange the right types of air that the lungs need. They are known to be weaker, collapse, and trap the air that you need, and dont allow the lungs to properly inflate. At first, the symptoms of this lung disease are breathlessness. However, if you continue to smoke, it will continue to break down the air sacs, eventually leaving you unable to breathe. Bronchitis is caused from similar problems, by changing the structure of the lungs which impairs the air flow.

Your life expectancy will slowly begin to expand when you quit smoking. This is in relation to how long you have smoked, how much you have smoked, when you began smoking and whether you were sick when you decided to quit smoking. The sooner that you decide to quit smoking, the more likely you will be able to prolong your life expectancy. Eventually, the chemicals that have moved through your body will be removed from your system. This will allow the normal body functions to be able to move properly. It will also allow the chemicals that once prevented growth of tissue and nerves to begin to grow back. Your immune system, in return, will be able to produce more efficiently, allowing you to fight off diseases.

When you decide to quit smoking, the lungs will begin to move air through them easier, and eventually replace the air sacs back to the normal size. It will also cause the blood vessels to stop narrowing, and sometimes expand back to normal. It is known that even twenty-four hours after you decide to quit smoking, your cardiovascular system begins to move at a normal pace, instead of the faster pace it had to move because of the extra chemicals in your system.

By removing the chemicals from your body by deciding to quit smoking, you are allowing yourself to prolong your life as well as be healthier in your activities. Smoking has proven to be fatal for several different reasons. The only way to change your life expectancy is to allow yourself to quit smoking.For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert

Smoking and Birth Control Pills Don’t Mix

September 25th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Although the risks of smoking and taking birth control pills have been well documented for several years, many women are still unaware of how lethal the combination can really be. Here are eight things you should know about the dangers of smoking while taking birth control pills. Even if you are not taking any kind of contraceptives, one thing is clear: the best way to protect all aspects of your health is to refrain from smoking.

1) Smoking while taking birth control pills is one of the worst things you can do for your heart health. Smoking, while taking birth control pills, can increase your risk of a heart attack dramatically. The more you smoke, and the older you are, the higher the risk. In fact, a recent study found that women over the age of 35 years who smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day have a 30 times higher risk of experiencing a first time heart attack!

The risk of smoking while taking a daily birth control is so well documented and so elevated, that your doctor or gynecologist may refuse to prescribe you birth control pills if you are a over 35 and a smoker because of the potential damage to your cardiovascular health.

2) Many doctors recommend that women over 35 who are taking a daily low-dose birth control pill also refrain from using nicotine patch or nicotine gum products. Even though the patch and nicotine gum products are much safer than smoking, they can still present a threat to women who have high blood pressure, or who are diabetic or overweight.

3) Heart attacks aren’t the only potential dangers that have been identified with smoking heavily while taking birth control medications. The chance of suffering from blood clots or a stroke also rise significantly as a woman ages, especially if she is a heavy smoker who regularly takes birth control pills. Women who smoke while taking birth control medications also risk developing high blood pressure.

4) Women who smoke heavily and take birth control pills are more likely to suffer from adverse side effects. Most prescription drugs harbor some kind of side effect. The chances of experiencing side effects from your birth control medications may increase if you are regular or heavy smoker.

5) Smoking can be harmful to your reproductive health. If, like many women, you decide to discontinue use of your birth control pills to try to conceive, you may experience difficulty in getting pregnant. Research has shown that women who smoke regularly can take considerably longer to conceive than non-smokers. In one study, women who smoked 16 to 20 cigarettes each day were 20% less likely to conceive and give birth within their first year of trying. If you are trying to conceive, quitting smoking may be the best things you can due to increase fertility.

6) Smoking can increase your chances of having a difficult pregnancy. Besides hindering your ability to conceive, smoking dramatically increases your chances of having a difficult pregnancy. While smoking is obviously harmful to the fetus, smoking can also cause spontaneous abortions or a stillbirth. Some studies have even found that women who smoke heavily deliver infants who are at a 25% higher risk of dying shortly after birth.

7) Besides the potential harm to your cardiovascular health, smoking while taking conventional low-dose daily birth control medications has also been linked with a significantly increased risk of developing gallbladder disease, vision problems, and liver tumors.

8) What about the “patch?” Does the risk associated with smoking and birth control also apply to other methods of birth control? Yesat least all hormonal birth control methods. The “patch” is a hormonal birth control method, so the risks of smoking also apply to the patch. Moreover, the risks of using the patch become significantly increased if you are a smoker.

Obviously, the risks of smoking while taking birth control medications can be quite serious. What should you do? If you need to take birth control medications, you must be willing to quit smoking. While the risks of developing serious cardiovascular problems under the age of 30 are quite low, the dangers of smoking while taking contraceptives quickly become very pronounced as you age.For more information on quiting smoking have a look at the quit-smoking-expert

Easy ways for you to quit smoking

August 15th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Whats the Main Problem with Smokers

The main problem with most smokers is that they wish to recover quickly from the nicotine damage, well I’m sorry to say, and I’m sure you already know that there are very few easy ways to quit smoking.
Yes there are easy ways to quit smoking, but they are not as done-in-a-minute as they say and you will need a lot of determination and courage to succeed.

Everyones looking for a Fast Solution to a Critical Problem

The truth is that nowadays we need fast solutions to critical problems. Where can one look for easy ways to quit smoking? The most common answer would be on the Internet. High levels of stress are one of the biggest problems when you try to use easy ways to quit smoking and we must admit that usually our lives have a crazy rhythm. This is why I can’t say that one single easy way to quit smoking really exists though theoretically there are alternatives. The cold turkey method is very disputed as some people have cured themselves using this technique while many others didn’t find any relief.

Going Cold Turkey

I personally consider that the cold turkey is one easy way to quit smoking though it hasn’t been confirmed yet to be highly effective. This is the theoretical easy way to quit smoking and it stands valid for those who smoke like twenty cigarettes a day. It also applies to someone that is highly-motivated by some external extreme factor. Once you feel your life at risk, you take the cold turkey method as one easy way to quit smoking. Therefore such easy ways to quit smoking do work but their effectiveness depends on lots of individual independent factors that vary from case to case.

It is normal to learn from the beginning that the easy way to quit smoking requires sacrifice and determination too. If you have a powerfully motivating factor like an illness caused by tobacco then your chances of success increase significantly. If you opt for one of the so called easy ways to quit smoking like acupuncture or over the counter treatments you considerably reduce the amount of the withdrawal symptoms. If you haven’t decided yet which of the easy ways to quit smoking to try maybe surfing the web is a good idea and I would recommend quit-smoking-expert to learn some tips for a healthier lifestyle. Keep in mind, however, that nothing works wonders and that easy ways to quit smoking also depend on you.

The best methods to stop smoking today

August 11th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

There are many ways to stop smoking today, these methods vary significantly from classical antinicotine treatments to herbal alternatives and even to hypnosis solutions. Smoking involves two separate problems: the psychological and the physical nicotine addiction. Once you’ve understood this you have a higher chance to stop smoking today. One of the most popular solutions against smoking is the use of nicotine replacements like gum or patches. These products can be easily found in any drug store, and doctors also recommend to turn to counseling in order to stop smoking today. Nicotine replacing products have a moderate rate of success in a stop smoking today strategy so they are a good start. Another way to stop smoking today is replacing your cigarettes with other ones containing less nicotine, this first step is normally followed by reducing the number of cigarettes smoked a day.

Another method to stop smoking today is to identify the triggers, what it is that makes you smoke. Once you know what favors your smoking habit, measures can be taken. The stop smoking today decision can work very well when you decided to quit smoking Cold Turkey. Also consider asking a non-smoker to help you like a family member or friend, they will give valuable support in your effort to stop smoking today. Another strategy to stop smoking today is that each time you feel like lighting a cigarette to think about the benefits of quitting and the health problems that smoking causes. Taking control over your live is not easy if you have an addiction, but trying is the best start. The most important thing is to redoubling efforts, never give up your plan and remember that it is only a matter of time until you finally escape from this deadly habit.

Finding the best method to stop smoking today comes sometimes naturally when there is enough positive determination. Many of those who stop smoking today, do it because of severe health problems. To eliminate nicotine cravings you’ll have to try as many remedies as possible until you succeed. Unfortunately most non-smokers think that trying to stop smoking today is just a problem of will power. Nicotine is very, very addictive and most people don’t understand what happens to a smoker when he or she tries to quit. A winning formula against smoking would contain antinicotine treatment, psychological counseling, educational information about the effects of smoking and a lot of positive thinking. So, stop smoking today! If your serious about giving up have a look at quit-smoking-expert

— Next Page »

Copyright © 2007 Kick The Cigarette

Kickthecigarette.com

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.kickthecigarette.com